Fire investigators were trying Sunday to pinpoint the cause of a fire that swept through a San Jose apartment late Saturday, killing a man, a woman and a young girl.

The two-alarm blaze injured three others, including a police officer credited with saving at least one of the 65 residents who were displaced by the inferno.

Firefighters arrived at the 16-unit, two-story apartment building on the 3000 block of Bridgeport Court at 11:15 p.m., minutes after dispatchers began receiving multiple calls, said San Jose Fire Department Capt. Reggie Williams.

"The first units got there and found heavy fire coming out of pretty much every window of the upstairs apartment unit," Williams said.

The fire apparently began in one of the upstairs units, Williams said. The three victims were overcome by smoke and flames and never made it out of their apartment, he said. Their names and relationship to one another were not released.

Two people were dragged out of the apartment and taken to local hospitals to be treated for smoke inhalation, Williams said. A San Jose police officer who pulled out one of them was also transported to a hospital. All were awake and talking when they left the scene, Williams said.

The building's gas and electricity were shut off, which left 40 adults and 25 children without power for the night, Williams said. He said the American Red Cross put about 20 of them in hotels, and the others sought to stay with family and friends.

Firefighters stayed late into the night to clean up the scene, and left around 10 a.m. Sunday, Williams said. While the upper half of the building was badly burned, the lower floor suffered water damage, he said.